Staff Editorial: Correcting ‘Putting SA duties first’

Last Thursday, the editorial board of The Hatchet made a mistake when publishing, “Putting SA duties first,” (Jan. 27, 2011, pg. 4). For that mistake, we are sorry.

We maintain our original and intended opinion. Chris Clark is a serious contender for Student Association president; he should have thought about the student organization leaders that were coming to the meeting and notified them beforehand of his alternate plans. The job of SA president is taxing, non-stop and involves having a vigilant eye for detail. Clark must be able to show his ability to handle those strains before assuming office.

That being said, our staff editorial mistakenly gave the impression that Clark canceled the meeting so he could go to McFadden’s. This is untrue, and we apologize for the error. In the future, the editorial board pledges to be more careful. In preparing to write this editorial, the ed board contacted Clark and sourced its facts from people outside of The Hatchet. We had two sources confirming this happened – in line with the most basic rule of journalism. We still, however, failed to adequately convey what we knew into an accurate staff editorial.